Thursday, May 29, 2014

Straus to Voters: Drop Dead!!!

House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, meanwhile, is all but assured of re-election to the House — he has a Libertarian opponent in November, but no Democrat — and appears well-positioned for a fourth term as speaker after an election within the House in January.

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Straus said Wednesday he was happy with the runoff election results in the House and hopes next year’s legislative session in that body will proceed more or less like the 2013 session.

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Without going into specifics, Straus said he was put off by the tone of some of the runoffs. “The primary’s over and it didn’t bring out the best of some of the candidates,” he said.

And he said the elections have not provided much direction for policymakers on specific issues. “Based on the primaries, I don’t think there was much discussion of what we need to do,” Straus said.

Straus noted the turnover in the state Senate and the conservatism of many of its new members. He stopped short of guessing what might come out of that chamber next year. “I really try not to worry about them. I don’t understand their culture very well,” he said. “Over here, we’ll continue to do what we’ve done.”